


The Summoning

by kasey1939



Category: Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter - Laurell K. Hamilton, Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, F/M, Faith in the Anita verse, Sexual Content, Surprise Pairings, cross-over
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-05-24
Updated: 2016-06-21
Packaged: 2018-03-31 23:39:21
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 7
Words: 11,621
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3997537
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kasey1939/pseuds/kasey1939
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Anita is called to the scene of a murder she thinks it's just another day at the office. When the second call comes she starts to worry. With the third call comes understanding, and so much more.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> [](http://s1063.photobucket.com/user/kasey19391/media/Done%20Story%20Banners/the%20summoning.jpg.html)  
> 

**Disclaimer - I claim no rights to copyrighted materials. I Do Not own any of the characters, mythology, etc.. of Buffy the Vampire slayer or Anita Blake. Anita and all her friends were given to us by the lovely Laurell K. Hamilton. Buffy and her friends belong to Joss Whedon and any of the many networks that broadcast it (i.e. Mutant Enemy, the WB, etc) I write this for fun and recieve no financial gain for it.**

** **

**A/N - Alright so a quick run down of where this story will be set before we begin. For the characters of the Anita-verse this will take place just after Incubus Dreams but before Micah (sort of in those grey in between months that we have between nearly every novel). With that said, the story its self should fill in any other blanks, enjoy!**

Anita sat in her office at Animator Inc. and tried to understand how her life had gotten so complicated. She'd been doing just fine before when she'd had nothing but her work and her stuffed penguins for company, she really had been, swear. Then came Jean-Claude bursting into her life in all his sexy glory, but like a good little christian girl she'd resisted his temptation, it took every ounce of her will power to do it but she'd done it. It wasn't until she'd stopped running from him and started running towards him that her life had truly become something worth living. She'd been existing before him, and now she was experiencing so much more than she ever had before. Only problem with experiencing life, was that it seemed that there was such a thing as experiencing too much, and boy was she experiencing more than her fair share.

In an effort to over look Mr. tall dark and sexy she'd run head long into Richard, the equally sexy and unfortunately equally infuriating werewolf. Thus her complicated love life had begun, and right on its heels her complicated rest of her life. She'd thought that she and Richard could be together, just the two of them, in wedded suburban bliss. Richard would have been right at home in the 1950's, he believed in all those good old american values, unfortunately their lives didn't really have room in them for any values much less the good old american ones. He didn't believe in sharing (or at least he hadn't), and now that she had the aurdeu riding her every waking hour of the day, monogamy just wasn't an option anymore. If it ever was one to begin with. Looking back on it now she winced at her own naivety, to think that she and Richard would have ever worked out as a unit together. They just didn't work well as a single set of two, they would always need someone else in the mix to play referee if not more. Now that they were tentatively back together, if not as they were before, she didn't know if she really wanted it to work or not. With Richard came baggage and guilt and she was already weighted down enough as it is.

The two of them had been more than enough complication for her, they were it, she was done. Then had come Nathaniel, and he'd been a whole new level of complicated all his own. She still remembered how she'd felt about him when they'd first met. He'd been such a  _victim_ that she'd seen helping him as more of her good deed for the century than anything else. He was a sort of karmic counter balance to all the wickedness she'd caused in the rest of her life. Her blood soaked career as the Executioner was enough to put her in the devil's good books. She'd seen helping Nathaniel become more independent as her sort of penance, and it had worked, unfortunately with his independence came his desires for a different sort of relationship between them. Adding another level to the hell that is her life. She still couldn't figure out exactly how she'd let herself be persuaded to take her relationship with Nathaniel to the next step, she was pleading temporary insanity, but for now it seemed to be working. She wouldn't rock the boat without a damn good reason, she'd promised.

Somewhere between Nathaniel and Richard had come Micah. Her saving grace, the yen to her yang. He was everything she wasn't. Calm, patient, understanding, he balanced her in the way that she balanced everyone else. He was someone who after his initial problems with his pard when he first came to town didn't need her to be the strong one in the equation. Micah could take care of himself, and unlike Richard he didn't expect her to do all the dirty work so his own hands could remain lilly white in the process; and unlike Jean-Claude he didn't match her ruthlessness and push her to new depths of her own inner hell. He was just there for her without expectations and without pushing for more than she could give him, but with him came more complication.

Unfortunately the list didn't stop there for the complications in her life, it went on and on seemingly endless. Damian, Asher, the increasing number of new vampires flocking into town, the Leopard Pard, the Wolf Pack, the Shifter Coalition, Malcolms unbonded vampires, her issues with RPIT (or more specifically its sergeant)...

The ringing of her office phone cut off her train of thought before she could go too deeply down the rabbit hole. Silently thanking whoever it was on the other end she snatched it up like the lifeline that it was.

"Blake."

"Anita, we got a body we need you to come down and look at." Good old Dolph, they'd been good friends once upon a time, before he began to hate the monsters and she began to become one of them. She thought about asking questions, of trying to get more information about the scene, but decided against it. That route would only lead to frustration and anger, with no new answers at the end of it.

"Where?" That question at least she knew he'd answer.

"The old abandoned salt refinery off the highway." The dial tone sounded in her ear before she could even think to respond, what was it with men and their lack of phone etiquette. Was it genetic? A gender thing? Or just the men she knew? Maybe she brought it out in them, either way it seems she was needed. Grabbing her things she headed out from one job to the next, all thoughts of her home life forgotten.

  
  



	2. It Starts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anita catches a new case that might just be more than it appears.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings for Canon typical depictions of death and violence in this chapter. You've been warned.

Anita hated abandoned buildings like the refinery, they always seemed like they should be haunted. More often than not, all the machinery and other bits and pieces would be left behind making it seem like there should be people there still working, even when it's been abandoned for years.

Seeing the crowd of cops up ahead, she did her best to put on her game face, it wouldn't do for the people she worked with to think she was going soft. It was hard enough being a woman in a mans profession, if they started to think you couldn't take it, then they'd really start dishing it out just to see how far you'll go to reclaim your "tough guy" rep. She liked to think she was beyond that now, but she didn't want to put that theory to the test if she didn't have to, just in case she was wrong. It didn't happen often, but it did happen on occasion. As she drew closer she saw Zerbrowski at the edge of the scene most likely waiting for her, she would never admit it, but is was nice seeing a friendly face. Even one wearing such an ugly tie.

"What the hell are you wearing Zerbrowski?" The thing looked like one of those old piano ties that someone had tried to destroy by dipping in paint thinner.

"What? You don't like it, it's the latest and greatest." His shit eating grin firmly in place.

"Yeah I'm sure it is, does your wife know you're wearing that eye sore in public. You know where other people can actually see you?" She loved his wife Katie, almost as much as he did.

"Yeah, but it was a gift from a relative so I get a pass to wear it just this once without her saying anything." She didn't say it out loud but she wondered if that relative might be losing their mind, just a little bit.

"So, what is so important that I had to drag my ass all the way down here from my day job?"

"Oh, don't you worry your pretty little head Blake, this one is right in your wheel house." With that final salvo, he turned and began to stride towards what she assumed was the crime scene. Leaving her to trail behind with her much shorter gait, pulling on her white gloves looking like a trainee. From the set of his shoulders she just knew he did it on purpose.

When she finally got a look at the poor bastard she was called in to see, all thoughts of inter-personal shenanigans fled her mind. She could only see half of him, sticking out of the huge pile of unprocessed salt in the center of the floor, but what she could see was skinned. Now she knew why they'd called her.

"Can I approach?"

"Yeah, tech guys are all done, he's all yours." She mumbled her thanks as she stepped closer, taking in all the subtle things she'd missed from further back.

"Blake, what have you got for me?" Normally she would have taken offense at the demanding tone that Dolf had taken to using with her lately, but the horror of what she was seeing pushed it back.

"He was a shifter."

"How can you tell  _that_ from  _that_ ?" Zerbrowski asked, he looked genuinely puzzled by her declaration. She could understand that, if someone else had said it after looking at what was essentially so much meat she would have been just as skeptical. Unfortunately she had solid proof to back her up, it was just proof she wished she didn't have.

"Because, even with the salt doing its damage, you can see places where he had already started healing, or at least he tried to. That plus all the blood tells me that he was skinned and then most likely his face was held down in the salt until he suffocated." Salt covering a body that was basically an open wound, not a good way to die.

"Ouch." Glancing up at Zerbrowski she saw the same truth reflected in his eyes. Whoever had done this, was one sick bastard.

While Zerbrowski and Dolf slogged through the missing persons database, looking for someone who could be their victim, she went somewhere more likely to have their answer. The coalition was more likely to know about any recently missing shifters, most weren't reported to the police for fear that their lycanthropy would be outed. That left most things handled in house, so to speak. Usually they wouldn't talk to anyone about what was going on, but thankfully she had an in.

"Anita, what brings you by?" She couldn't keep the grin off her face as she gazed into the preternatural eyes of her lover, well one of them anyway. He always did make her smile, the only one above him in the make her goofy category was Nathaniel.

"Good afternoon Micha, sorry to say this isn't a social call."

"I thought as much." She stayed silent as she waited for the sting of his words to subside. It shouldn't make her angry, he had a point after all, she never came here voluntarily. The only times she stepped foot through those doors since she finished helping to set it up, was when it was unavoidable for one reason or another. Normally, a bad reason. Still, it made her feel like she wasn't doing enough, like maybe she wasn't involved enough it his day to day life. That is what made her anger bubble up towards the surface.

Doing her best to swallow it back she decided that the best way to go would be to get down to business.

"We found a shifter today, I need to know if anyone's missing." She would push through with what she had to do, and hopefully everything else would sort itself out.

It took most of the day but they had identified the most likely shifter, and the M.E. now had a sample of his DNA to test against what they'd found. They wouldn't know anything until the morning, so everyone was sent home for the night until they could pick it all back up again tomorrow.

She hated this part, scratch that, she hated this whole fucked up day. As she began to drag her overly tired ass home, she just knew that Nathaniel would be there waiting to coddle her after a hard days work. Some days she didn't mind so much, but on nights like tonight, she was just too tired to give in gracefully. She just knew that she was going to end up snapping at him about something simple, which will make her feel like a complete ass, then she'll spend the majority of the day tomorrow trying to come up with a good way to apologize to him. In short tonight was going to ruin the rest of her week, she just knew it.

Before she could get to her front door though, he phone began to ring. She thought about just letting it go to voicemail, she had done enough for everyone that day after all. The only person she hadn't done anything for yet, was waiting for her behind that door probably holding a cup of coffee and waiting to ambush her with hugs and smother her with understanding. It wasn't until she saw the name on her called I.D. that she reluctantly decided to pick up. Marianne hadn't done anything to deserve her cold shoulder, and as one of her few friends she tried not to alienate her if at all possible.

"Marianne, what a surprise. What has you calling so late?" She tried to sound cheerful, or at least happy to hear from her, but as late as it was and as tired as she was non-hostile was about as much as she could manage. Oh well, as her sometimes friend, Marianne knew the score, she wouldn't take it personally she knew.

"Anita!" She sounded breathless, almost frightened. "It's so much bigger than it seems Anita, so much worse."

"What is? Come on talk to me." When a witch who could see the future sounded this afraid, especially one as calm and collected as Marianne, you sit up and pay attention.

"That shifter you found today, he's just one piece Anita. Just one piece of a bigger puzzle. I've seen it Anita, I've seen what's coming, you have to stop it. You have to save us from her wrath."

  
  



	3. What Do You Know?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> More pieces of the puzzle are found, and everyone starts asking around to figure out what's going on.

Anita had only been asleep for a little over an hour when her phone started to ring, she hated her life. It used to be that when her phone would ring so soon after her head hit that pillow she would swear that someone had better be dead, but these days that was such a real possibility it wasn't even worth mentioning anymore.

"Blake, we got another scene we need you to take a look at."

"Where?" Oh, how she missed the days when she could ask for more details than that, and actually get an answer or two. Those were the days.

Was this related to the body from the day before? Had another shifter been skinned? That's the one thing she hated about being called in by the police, to keep from creating bias on the part of an expert they were always light on the details, they preferred for someone to see it for themselves and form their own opinion first. Good for collaboration, bad for her peace of mind.

"The middle of fucking nowhere. Here I'll give you the landmarks on the way in so you can find the right patch of trees." The more he spoke the heavier her dread became. They were on pack lands, near the Lupinar. Was the victim a werewolf? Was it one of Richards? Was it someone she knew? Someone she liked?

Knowing that sitting there silently craving answers would do nothing, she slammed the phone back down on its cradle and raced out of her office towards the _patch of trees_ that she knew so well.

Pulling up to one of the only places that the werewolves viewed as nearly sacred, their haven, and seeing it swarming with yellow crime scene tape and cops was just wrong. On so many levels. When the car finally rolled to a stop, she jumped out and barely kept herself from running forward, if the cops thought she couldn't be objective they would block her from even seeing what was on the other side of that damned yellow tape.

So instead she _walked briskly_ preying with every step that it was something else, someone else.

Looking down at the victims, plural, she wanted more than anything to take those prayers back. There surrounded by nature in the place she knew so well lay five girls; none old enough to legally drink, covered in their own blood, their eyes frozen open in pain and fear. They had seen it coming, she knew that much already, they had seen it coming and had been unable to do anything to stop it. To save themselves.

"What do you got for me Blake?" She knew now why Dolf was being extra cranky with her. It was always harder when the victims were kids, and make no mistake they were kids, even to her.

"All five died at around the same time, I won't know for sure but I'm guessing that the circle they're lying in was drawn with their own blood. I recognize it as a ritual circle of some kind but I don't know exactly what this particular one is used for. I don't recognize the language or the symbols all around it. You might want to get a witch to look at them maybe they'll have better luck." At her words Zebrowski stepped up beside Dolf. His messy shirt and skewed tie already speaking volumes about how his day had been so far.

"We already had Tammy take a look, no luck. We've sent a copy of it to some of our other experts on retainer the ones who didn't faint said they'd never seen it either. So what are we looking at Anita something new?"

"Or something old, very old." As soon as the words left her mouth she knew, deep in her bones, she knew she was right. This, whatever this was, wasn't unrecognizable because it was new but because it predated their knowledge.

"Look Anita you know I gotta ask. Is there any chance this is connected to that skinned shifter from before? I mean we find him one day and then the next day there's this. Anything pointing towards a connect?"

"Not that I can see from here, but I wouldn't rule it out." In fact she would almost put money on them being related. There wasn't anything she could point to exactly, the scene just seemed to have the same feel to it that the one before did. A sort of malevolent glee. Whoever did this, enjoyed it.

"Is there any signs that maybe the wolves had a hand it this? Maybe a revenge thing?" Closing her eyes she tried not to let her temper get the better of her, he was right he did have to ask. Thankfully she knew there was no chance that anyone furry had a hand in this.

"No."

"You got some evidence to back that up or is it just a feeling?" Dolf's snide response shouldn't be such a surprise to her, but it always was.

"The throats were cut with one swift motion left to right, one single cut, and depth puts it as a blade rather than claws. Add to that, that it looks like magic was done here, and it couldn't have been a shifter. While Were's can do some pack magic and some can even do some elemental stuff, the big leagues is pretty much beyond them. Magic doesn't react well to being handled by those of us with fur." There, all the evidence he needed to back down and start moving in the right direction on this.

"So they didn't do the killing or the magic, doesn't mean they didn't have a hand in it. This is their land after all." That had to be one of the most ignorant asinine things she'd ever heard come out of Dolf's mouth.

"So what if someone kills a guy in your backyard then you automatically had a hand in it because it happened on your property? Is that how the law works now Dolf?" Her anger was simmering just beneath the surface, and looking in the eyes of her one time friend she saw his right there as well.

"That's not what I said."

"Yeah it is! They didn't have a hand in the killing or the magic so what exactly is it you think they did? Stood there and watched? Just because it happened on their land doesn't make them responsible Dolf. Their land stretches for miles in every direction, it's isolated and secluded the perfect place for a killing like this and you know it. That doesn't mean they had anything to do with it." They had begun to draw some attention their way, like they almost always seemed to do these days.

"Alright Blake, throttle back, it was just an observation." She knew what he was doing, trying to save face after such an epically public act of idiocy. Taking a step back she turned away and decided to let him.

"Send me the photos and I'll see if I can't scare up something from some of my sources. Until then, I have a few raisings to prepare for."

Marching back towards her car she couldn't shake the feeling that this, whatever this was, was only the beginning of something that would jump up and bite them all in the ass before it was over and done.

 

Jean-Claude sat behind his desk at Guilty Pleasures and tried to understand exactly what was happening in his city. First a shifter was killed, not that it really upset the status quo for one shifter to die, but not knowing exactly what happened made him look weak. If he couldn't find out anything through his extensive network of contacts, it made his hold over his territory look unstable. Then many others are killed at the Lupinar under the wolves noses, and no one has a clue as to what's happening. The fact that the wolf is his animal to call, made him look even more of a fool for being so far in the dark.

The only saving grace in the entire situation is that he was not the only one in the darkness. No one had so much as plausible theory about what was falling down around them all, all they knew for certain was that a bigger game was in play and for once they were not the players, but the pawns.

He did not enjoy the feeling, he remembered it well, and would be happy to never have to feel it again.

Ma petite was on her way now with questions, now he only hoped either he or one of his would have some answers for her. Answers they all needed desperately.

Anita tried to keep her frustration in check, she knew it wouldn't help the situation for her to lose her temper. Anger would not make the answers magically appear, all it would do is make everyone else's tempers flare along side hers.

She looked around the table at the leaders of every major group of their fair City, both their allies and the ones she wasn't so sure about, but for the moment their interests were aligned. Richard, the other side of their power base, as resentful as ever for having been dragged into another mess that he saw as Jean-Claudes problem. Rafael the leader of the Rodere, one of the more level headed of them all, the only one more evened out would likely be Micah. Finally Narcissus the leader of the Hyena's, the one most in it only for himself and his own safety.

Asher, Jean-Claudes second and Micha, arguably her second were also included. Between them all, both ancient and wise, at least one of them should have at least some idea about the markings found at the Lupinar. Wrong! No one had so much as a clue. There was only really one other font of information left untapped, and he was already on his way. If he was as much of a bust as the rest of them, then they were all beyond screwed.

Damian did not understand why he was being summoned before St. Louis's very own war council, but it was not likely to be anything he liked. Of course, ever since he had become Anita's vampire servant there had not been much of anything happening to him that he had liked. He would do now, what he had been doing for some months now, he would simply take it one move at a time until he understood what was desired of him.

Anita was never one to truly speak her mind, no matter how much she claimed to value honesty she did not give it often, even when asked for. He had expressed his need to know what it was she wanted from him time and time again, only to be brushed off by platitudes and non answers. So now he was reduced to guessing games, luckily he was adept at such things from long practice.

"You called for me?" He resisted the desire to bow before them. He would not lower himself so before the shifters present.

"Yes, we have need of your mind. Ma petite has come across some unusual markings during the investigation of the killings at the Lupinar and it appears to predate both the police and ourselves. We were hoping that you would be able to provide some illumination with your long history."

He simply nodded his head, because it was understood that his agreement was never in question, so he did not feel it was necessary to waste his time with words.

"Good, show him."

Damian took the photos handed to him, expecting to find something benign that had simply fallen from memory and written record. It happened often, most of what was forgotten was simply inconsequential and over looked, but this... this was so much more. This was so much worse.

"Do you recognize it?" He let the demand wash over him, uncaring at the moment about what they wanted. Right now he needed more information, he needed to know.

"I do. Tell me the bodies found with these symbols, what was done to them?" He could feel their impatience building at the delay, but he would not answer until he was sure.

"Their throats were cut and their hearts were removed."

"Five of them?"

"Yes."

"Before them, have their been any animals found skinned, shifter or otherwise." The looks he received were answer enough, it was true. Someone was actually suicidal enough to attempt to recreate this madness.

"Yes, one that we know of."

"There will be more. Five in total like the women. Most likely spread out, crossing state lines so that no one would see the pattern unless they went looking for it."

"Damian! What is this?"

"It is a summoning."

  
  



	4. Come What May

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everyone starts to piece things together and Anita makes an interesting phone call.

Anita took a deep breathe as she looked up at the RPIT building. She'd never been nervous to walk inside of it before, but after everything Damian had told them the night before, she was now. She both wanted to tell them all what she found out and ask for their help, they were going to need all the help they could get their hands on if what he said was true, and running the other way so she didn't have to deal with it. After everything, all the shit, she'd already dealt with over the past few years, why couldn't she just leave this one up to someone else, demons and her didn't exactly mix. Damians words still had the power to send a shiver down her spine as they echoed through her memory.

“ _A summoning? For what?” What was someone trying to summon. A ghost? A zombie?_

“ _A demon.” That hadn't even entered her mind as an option, looking around the table she saw she wasn't the only one floored by the revelation. Even trying to summon a demon to this reality was notoriously a bad idea, those few that survived the attempt, well they usually wished they hadn't._

“ _A demon?” She watched the irritation flash across his face at being questioned, for just a second before he got his emotions back under tight control and it disappeared like it had never happened. She didn't really blame him, they'd asked for his knowledge and now they were questioning his claims. Anyone would get at least irritated about that._

“ _Yes, it is an ancient summoning spell, it was still being used during my human years. The instructions, for lack of a better term, were lost long ago. Many say they were lost on purpose after the destruction the attempts wrought.”_

_Destruction? She didn't know why that word even surprised her, they were talking about demons after all it wasn't like they caused rainbows and happy feelings. She wanted to ask, if they were going to be going up against this thing they would need to know, but her mouth had gone suspiciously and completely dry making speech nearly impossible._

“ _What happened?” Rafeal to the rescue, with her matter of fact way of his._

“ _These rituals were mainly uniform until you reached the last stage. You had a week after the first component was gathered to reach the final stage, usually the practitioners would arrange it so that the final night of the summoning fell on the full moon to add strength to their attempts. You would need the pelts of five separate animals, or shifters, the type depending on what you were trying to summon. The mightier and more fierce the demon the stronger and more feral the animal would have to be, the skins were then woven together into a book cover and binding for the summoners book of truths, the point being to imbue the spell with the qualities that you sought. After that would come the first sacrifice, the sacrifice of life. This was usually a coven of witches or druids, as they were more attuned with the ways of the earth and thus seen as being closer to the veins of life itself, the numbers remaining consistent. Five animals, five lives. Finally the final stage would come on the final night of the ritual. The sacrifice of death, usually either zombies or in some cases for the more brave and powerful vampires. Once the chant was spoken and the final death was given the portal would open and the demon would be pulled through, usually into a binding circle lain in the center of the space used.”_

_Wow, that was a very involved ritual, and if it had been going on for a few days now and was finally coming to a close, if the dead witches in the Lupinar are anything to go by, that would explain Marianne's phone call. The closer the time came for the summoning to be complete the more power there would be pulsing through the air, the more others of magic would be able to feel it. Plus the murder of that whole coven would have sent out a ripple effect of sorts as well. Add it all up and it would seem her friend had been right to be afraid, and now that fear was beginning to spread._

“ _Binding circle?” Bless Rafeal and his single minded focus. He was in survival mode and survival usually depended on the amount of information you had at your finger tips. He was thinking about contingency plans, what to do if they couldn't stop the summoning from being completed, what to do if the demon came through._

“ _Yes, it was customary to use a circle of power, usually made of the blood of the sacrifice of life to bind the demon and keep it confined to a single circle of power. Demons were not usually asked for their consent before they were pulled through, so as you can imagine they were usually hostile after being pulled through dimensions by a being they would consider to be weak and beneath them. The circle was used to keep them from killing the caster while they became more oriented and the person who performed the ritual explained things.”_

“ _Explained things? Like what?” New world, new rules, what? What could you possibly explain to a demon? They weren't exactly the intellectual types, or at least the ones she'd met hadn't been. More single minded, and hell bent on destruction really._

“ _Less explanation truly, and more bargaining. Most who took it upon themselves to summon a demon usually did so with a particular purpose in mind, a specific goal. The standard bargain was that they would release the demon from the circle, and help it navigate the new world they found themselves a part of, and in exchange the demon would do their bidding.”_

“ _Can't image that deal going over too well.” What kind of an idiot thought an all powerful demon would agree to being their bitch boy? In exchange for freedom and information no less._

“ _It did not. As you can image the demons agreed, only the caster usually forgot one very important detail. Demons lie. As soon as the circles were broken the demons would kill the casters and then they would turn on anyone else close by before going on a rampage of death and destruction.”_

“ _How were they stopped?”_

“ _With faith I presume, I was never a part of the clean up, so to speak. My people were usually responsible for the belongings of the caster, burning them normally, and making sure there evil could never be used again.”_

“ _So this demon, it will be like any other right?” Like there's such a thing as an ordinary demon._

“ _That all depends truly. It will all come down to what was used to summon it. The more powerful the “ingredients” the more powerful the demon that is pulled through. You said the shifter you found was a wolf, assuming the others are also predators then this demon is likely to be a fighter... a warrior even. Depending on the power level of the coven, this demon could have any number of skills or abilities. Also the power of the sacrifice of death will factor in. Whether the caster chooses five zombies, the older the more powerful, or five vampires. I would need to know more about what's already been done to tell you what to expect with any certainty.”_

So that was it why she was here, she needed to backtrack their guy, and see who else he'd killed. If she could find all the shifters that were skinned then not only would she know how strong the demon would be, but they would also have a time line. If she knew when the first shifter was killed they could count forward and see how long they had before the ritual was completed. She just hoped this guy hadn't aimed for the full moon, because that was tomorrow night.

Jean-Claude stood in his office and faced his closest allies, some closer than others, as he outlined what was happening around them. They had all already noticed that an elaborate game was being played out around them, he was only filling in some of the details and the possible end results.

Richard, had spent the time between this meeting and the last as he normally did during times of crisis, with his head firmly in the sand coming up with excuses for why the coming fight was not for his people to soldier in. Of course this time he had failed in that argument, Jamil and Sylvie had pointed out with the help of his beloved Jason that a demon was unlikely to take something as intangible as allegiance or participation in the fight into consideration if it began to slaughter the masses. So here he sat with them at his back, waiting for his marching orders.

Rafael, having been at the last meeting was already aware of what was at stake and had spent the day gathering forces, counting his number who would be willing and able to fight if it came down to it. His shifters may not be the largest in number but they were the best fighters of any of them. While not all of the rats were soldiers or the like nearly ninety percent of them were, or had been at some point. He was a leader who knew the value of strength.

Narcissus ever the survivor had gathered up what fighters he now had after his unfortunate run in with Chimera. They were poorly trained for the most part, Narcissus himself not nearly disciplined enough to keep them in true fighting form, but they would be good canon fodder if nothing else. He could admit, if only to himself, that his past dealing with the Hyenas may be coloring his view of them. They might prove to be worthy allies in this fight, might.

Ma Petite, spending the entire day in the company of the lauded RPIT had not put her in a very good mood, not that she really had much of a good mood these days. Though her sacrifice was well worth it with the information it had produced. Behind her stood her ever present help-mates, Nathaniel and Micah. It was rare these days to see her without one or the other, and now here they both stood. He was jealous, he knew this, they got parts of Anita that he knew she would never give to him, but that was neither here nor there at the moment. Such petty discords were being put aside for the moment in an effort to save them all.

From his own people he'd chosen Asher and Damien to be present, for their knowledge and possible contributions to the problem. Hopefully their forces would be unnecessary, the person could be caught before the summoning could be completed, but what was the saying again, he would rather have them and not need them than need them and not have them.

“Now that everyone is caught up on the situation, for those of you who were not present before, let's move on to what new information has been discovered. Anita?” She hated it when he called her ma petite before others during a planning session, she thought it detracted from her authority. He blamed so much time spent with the police department for that untruth, she was the executioner, no mere pet name could ever detract from her power.

Anita silently thanked Jean-Claude for his small concession in not calling her by one of his little names for her at the moment. She knew he didn't agree, but she truly didn't like it when he called her anything but her given name in from of others during a crisis. Too much time spent in boys-town with the nice men in blue she supposed, but it was too late to change now.

Clearing her throat she began to out line what she'd learned at the RPIT offices that day. What a fun filled day that was, her ears were still ringing from Dolphs shouts.

“ _What the hell do you mean it's a summoning! What kind of a summoning? Exactly how long were you planning on holding this back Blake?” Dolph was breathing so heavily and his face was so red that she actually feared that he might just have a stoke and be done with it. He really needed to work on keeping calm in these situations._

“ _I haven't held anything back, in case it's escaped your notice, here I am telling you everything I know.” What a conversation that had been, it had only taken 45 minutes to convince him that she wasn't just being a smartass about the whole thing. In fact Zebrowski had to step in so that he would even consider taking her seriously._

“ _So what you're telling me is that you just so happen to know exactly what these symbols mean, what changed between now and yesterday when you said you didn't know squat like the rest of us?” Like he didn't already know. Like he didn't figure out exactly where this information was coming from._

“ _I asked an expert.” He had nothing to say to that, there was nothing to say, all he did was shake his head like he was disappointed in her._

Dolphs attitude only got darker the longer she stayed there. It was like he cared more about the fact that the information came from a vampire than the fact that a demon was being summoned. She thought it probably had something to do with the fact that demons were so far outside of his experience that he just couldn't think about them for very long, or really image the destruction they could rain down on everyone and everything around them. Vampires were a safer target for his anger, which was a sentence she never thought she would ever think.

“The first shifter was a jaguar whose body was found skinned in Vegas six days ago. If Damian is right about the timeline then the demon will be summoned tomorrow night, on the full moon.”

That was it, all that needed to be said, they had less than twenty-four hours to stop this from happening or they would all be screwed.

“Do we know anything about the sacrifice of death? Have there been any zombies raised or vampires unaccounted for?” That was were things got a little complicated.

As she prepared to answer she saw one of Jean-Claude's vampires slip into the room to speak to him quietly. Dismissing it as none of her business for the moment she did her best to answer the question.

“We think there's going to be a mix of the two. So far there have been two zombies raised by animators from other states, each of them over a century old that have gone missing. The animators themselves were killed at the gravesite, but the zombies themselves are unaccounted for. Beyond that Malcolm admits that one of his flock has gone missing this week. While this vampire is not particularly old, she would still count as a part of the ritual. If they are a part of it that means that this _caster_ still needs two more either vampires of zombies.”

“Not any longer. I was just informed that two of my vampires have gone missing.”

“Who?” Please, not someone I care about. She knew it was a horrible thing to think, she should be worried for anyone in general, but she was self aware enough to know that there are certain vampires that she cares about more than others, and some that she doesn't care about one way or the other.

“Bartolome and Valentina.”

Anita stumbles into her house, nearly blind with panic really. This ritual was really going to happen, this caster had all of the ingredients that he needed to summon a demon, and the resolve to do it. She knew that it had always been a foregone conclusion that this was going to happen one way or another, but until tonight when the last of the vampires were taken she'd all but convinced herself that somehow they would stop it before it even began. They were the good guys in this situation after all, and the good guys were supposed to win in situations like these.

She knew she was jaded and she usually didn't believe in absolutes like that, but this time she had, and she'd been wrong.

There was really only one other option left to her. Picking up the phone she dialed the number that she had memories long ago.

“Hello?”

“Edward, I need you.”


	5. Final Steps Taken

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Edward comes to town and everyone prepares for the fight in their own way.

[](http://s1063.photobucket.com/user/kasey19391/media/Chapter%20art/the%20summoning/Chapter%204.jpg.html)

  
  


Edward pulled up to Guilty Pleasures in his SUV, he had no need to pretend to be Ted during this particular trip, and it was easier to carry all the firepower he needed with this vehicle over a pick-up truck. After Anita had finished explaining exactly what it was she needed his help with he'd gone through his entire arsenal before deciding to just bring it all.

Demons were tricky creatures, while as far as he knew they couldn't be killed by anything, and only contained or banished by faith, they could at times be harmed or distracted if you threw enough at it. Plus there was the added unknown that was the summoner himself, or herself he was very much an equal opportunity guy when it came to people being scum, no one knew who he or she was or if they had any back up with them. Better safe than dead.

Getting out of the car he stood there for a moment and looked up at the club, sometimes he didn't know why he always picked up the phone when Anita called. If it had been anyone else that he knew who was so in deep with the monsters of the world he would have shrugged off their call for help as them just bringing shit down on themselves. Hell a few years back he would have probably done the same with Anita, but in the last little while the little lady had gotten herself so embroiled in his life that he just couldn't seen to shake her. 

She'd met Donna, she'd helped him out when he got caught up in things he couldn't handle with the brute force that was his norm, she'd somehow gone from the occasional back-up that made up his other “friends” to being as close to a true partner he's ever had. 

After her call all he could think about was how he would feel if she were to die at the hands of this demon she was now fighting, and he'd realized that he would have actually felt bad about it. That just wasn't his way of things, when bad things even fatal things happened to the people he knew he either shrugged it off as the inevitable way of things with his line of work or he got angry enough to get his revenge on whatever creature it was that killed them. He had never once felt anything other than indifference or anger in the face of the death of someone he knew, at least he hadn't before Donna and her kids happened and he started letting people into his life. 

This was what happened when people like him got too invested in people, they went soft. Oh hell, he was in it now, might as well see it through to the end. If Anita became too much of a liability for him he supposed he could always kill her later, or at least try to, she'd been getting steadily more powerful for a while now and for the longest time he didn't know anymore who would win if it came down to her or him. 

What he did know now though was that no matter which way it would go, the last one standing wouldn't feel the overwhelming rush that comes with beating an opponent you thought just might be just that little bit better than you, they would feel the loss for some time to come.

Grabbing his bag from the back of the SUV he walked up to the doors of the club and strode through like he owned the place, he'd been there often enough now that he knew exactly where to go, and wasn't that just fucked up in every sense of it. 

 

Anita stood in “her” room at the club and looked at the two people who meant more to her than anyone else had for a long time now. She had people she loved like Jean-Claude and Richard. She had people she cared about like Jason and even at times Edward. Hell she even had friends like Ronnie and Manny. She had all these people that made up her life now but none of them were as central to who she was now as Micha and Nathaniel were. 

That was why she couldn't bare the idea of them having any part of this fight, she knew they were capable of taking care of themselves, well Micha more than Nathaniel, but she knew they would look out for each other. That wasn't the point. The point was that if they were there, facing a demon, she would be distracted. They just seemed to be willfully ignoring what she was trying to say. She knew they understood, they always understood her, but they were being stubborn because everyone else was going and they didn't want to be left behind to wonder. 

She could understand that, but she was not going to budge on this, they were not coming. No way!

“Anita-”

“Don't you Anita me. You two are sitting this one out, that's final. You would only be in the way.” She knew as she said it that it was the absolute worst thing to say, but she was angry and scared so she wasn't exactly thinking things through before she said them at the moment. Seeing them both take a step back like she'd decked them and watching their eyes just shut down was enough to make her regret her words in an instant. 

She might regret it, but she wouldn't take them back, they were the truth no matter how much they hurt. This was one thing they could not help with, not if she was going to have any kind of focus during this fight. Later, she would apologize later, when they were all still alive. 

Seeing they weren't going to say anything else, too hurt to even look at her, she stepped out of the room and headed towards Jean-Claude's office, towards Edward. She knew better than to leave the two of them along for long, unless she wanted one of them to die. Which was the point of her entire argument with Micha and Nathaniel, she didn't want anyone to die, not now.

 

She stood in the center of the warehouse she'd commandeered for her purposes, it was abandoned and forgotten, in other words it was perfect. She looked along the wall where the zombies and vampires were trapped in the circles she'd made specifically for each and everyone of them. 

The zombies were calm, unresponsive to any and all things since the animators who raised them were killed. They didn't even seem to realize that they weren't in their graveyards anymore.

The vampires were far more aware, and they were pissed. The circles kept them contained, their rage useless in the face of her power. The two “young” ones freaked her out, but they were perfect for what she needed. This would all be over soon, soon her avenger would be here, and everything would be set back to the way it was. The way it should have been all along.

She would have her vengeance!

 

Edward sat in the office, trying not to look at any of the décor because it would make him laugh and laughter wasn't appropriate for what they were discussing. 

So this demon summoner, this caster, was down to its final stage. All they had to do was kill the creatures it had already gathered and hell on earth would begin. Fine, but there was one thing he still didn't understand.

“Why here? They started out all over the place, and they could obviously gather these sacrifices from anywhere, so why come here to finish things? If you want to summon something this powerful and get away with it, there are far more isolated places you could go, places where no one would even try to stop you or know how to if they did try. Why come to the one place in the continental U.S that houses some of the only people who would not only be able to find you but if it came down to it be able to stop you.” He could tell by the looks on everyone's faces that no one had thought about it before. 

Understandable, stupid, but understandable. Ever since they had discovered what was being put into motion in their backyard, they had all been in survival mode, and questions of motive don't really fit with survival mode. Right now everyone was of the mind that this whole situation was simple and straight forward, but what if it wasn't. 

Summoning anything, let alone a demon, here was tantamount to suicide if you were caught. So why do it here surrounded by the only people who had a chance of catching you? Unless you want to be surrounded by these people. Tactics 101, if you want to use a weapon against someone you have to be close enough to take aim first. So what if this summoner was planning to aim this demon weapon at St. Louis.

Looking up at Jean-Claude he saw the same understanding reflected back in his eyes. They weren't just unlucky enough to have this guy settle here for the final act, they were the target.

“Piss anyone off lately.” That was all it took for the understanding to spread and the accusations to begin.

Everyone was blaming everyone else, some were even not so subtly come up with plans to hang other groups out to dry in order to try to save themselves. One revelation and everyone fell apart, this was why he usually preferred to work alone. He always got along with himself, everyone else was more hit or miss.   
Anita was just about to come back with another argument about why this was all so stupid and wrong, when she felt it. Magic. The wave that washed over her was so powerful she didn't even have to guess at what the cause was, the final stage of the ritual was over, the vampires and zombies that were taken had been sacrificed. The force behind it was so extreme she would be surprised if every magic user in the state hadn't felt it, they might not all know exactly what it means but the menace that traveled with it was clear enough. A message for everyone with the ability to feel it. 

Run if you want, hide if you can, I am coming.


	6. Call Me Maybe

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Now that the summoner is all ready to go, it's time to actually summon the demon.

[](http://s1063.photobucket.com/user/kasey19391/media/Chapter%20art/the%20summoning/Chapter%205.jpg.html)

  
  


“Alright so the sacrifices have been made. What does that mean? Is the demon here?” Anita hoped that the answer was no, that they still had time to keep this from happening. Then again, with their luck the answer would be that it was not only here, but that it had brought an army following behind it.

“No the demon is not here. Now that all the steps are complete, and the summoner has the power necessary, the actual summoning will take place. The caster will open the portal to the other world and call the creature through. This will take several hours.”

What? Why? Not that she wasn't grateful for the buffer or anything, but she would have thought that after all that work and preparation that summoning the thing would be the easiest part.

“Why so long?”

“As you can imagine demons and their kin do not enjoy being told what to do by any creature, especially those they feel beneath them in strength. So most demons tend to resist the pull of the spell for as long as they are able.”

Made sense she supposed. No one liked being ordered around by someone they thought was less than they were. Hell look at how most people felt about middle management. So the question was, what now?

“So how do we find this guy before he finishes this summoning, and if we stop him mid-spell will that be enough? I mean once it's started it won't act like a beacon right? Calling this thing here no matter what.” That would be worse than just letting the summoner finish. If this thing came through and there was no one on this side with even a working knowledge of how to contain it they would all be beyond screwed.

“If the caster can be halted before the demon steps through the portal created by the power vacuum, then that will be the end of this. Without the caster continuously pouring power into the void there will be no way for the demon to break through the barrier between its world and our own.”

Edward had heard enough, their options were simple, either stop the summoner or stop the demon. That's all there was to it now. Stopping the summoner would be the easy road, a bullet to the head or a snap of one neck and it would all be over, they were focusing on the wrong contingency plan here.

“What if the demon is through, what then?” That was the shit storm they should all be focusing on. Not if they got there in time, but if they didn't.

Unfortunately no one seemed to have any answers. Every demon was different, yet still kind of the same, in that they were un-killable and damn near un-containable.

Anita glanced over at Edward, ever since the sun had risen and all the vamps had been pulled into slumber they had been working together to try and find this guy. 

“This is getting us nowhere, there are simply too many places this guy could be hold up at, we need to come at this from a different angle.” She agreed with him of course, hours of coming up empty handed wasn't doing anyone any good, but what other option was there. 

“Like what?” It wasn't like they could just go door to door asking if anyone knew someone capable of bringing forth a demon. 

“We split up. You go to some other magic users you know of, see if any of them maybe got a stronger reading on where this thing was going down when that magical blast hit everyone. I'll head over to the cop shop and look into some missing persons reports or the like for people who lived in the first city the sacrifices started in, but who also have ties back to here.”

Good idea, maybe her brain was just stalled out by the idea that she was going to most likely be facing down a demon by the end of the day with no plan to show for it.

“We meet back up in about three hours unless we find something sooner, compare notes see if we missed anything.” Without waiting for her agreement he just walked off towards RPIT, she supposed in a situation like this his agreement was all that mattered to him. Shrugging she headed off towards Animators Inc, if anyone at least had an idea of where to start it would be Manny.

God she hoped this worked.

Bartolome and Valentina watched as this mad woman began her chant, she'd been talking to them ever since they arrived about why they were here, so they already knew what she was calling to. The zombies were the sacrifice of death, but they were something far worse, they were the bait for the trap. They were this creatures prey of choice. 

After spending so many centuries as the apex predator, after being the thing that most feared in the night, being considered prey again was beyond disconcerting. Their only chance now would be if Jean-Claude and Anita found them before this creature answered its new masters call. 

“Tell us summoner, what is it that you believe you will accomplish with this madness? Even if this creature does bend to your will, which I doubt, what could possibly be the purpose of killing all the vampires of Saint Louis?” While Bartolome knew that his kin here in Missouri were not the best of his kind, they were far from the worst. The worst were members of the Council. 

“Oh, you still don't understand, none of you do. I'm not trying to kill the vampires of your precious Saint Louis. No! I am going to kill all the vampires everywhere. Your kind are a plague on this earth, you believe yourselves entitled to anything and everything you wish just because you want it. The vampire executioners were a good start to ending the problem, but they are too few and the laws constrain them and your kind corrupt them, we need something more. Something that won't be swayed by your devils tongue, someone that can't be taken in by your powers. We need this creature, this killer, to come and free us from your hold.”

“And after you are all freed what then? What will become of this creature that lives to kill our kind once we are no more?” What would this demon do once its purpose was complete?

“Then I will send it home, back to its dimensions where it can continue to kill your kind there.” This woman was insane.

There were thousands of vampires across the globe, and their numbers grew greater each passing night, humans voluntarily crossed over to their side now. In droves. Even if this creature was created to solely kill vampires, even it would need years to kill them all, and nothing would stay contented with servitude and slavery for so long. This demon would turn on this woman the first opportunity that presented its self, then chaos would reign. He supposed he could find some level of joy in that knowledge should he meet his end this night. 

As the portal grew brighter and brighter he looked over at Valentina, she was the closest he had to a companion during his long years trapped on this earth in the body of a child. Though she was younger than he in image, she was as close to his equal as he could hope to ever find. 

She understood the struggle of his existence in a way that no other vampire or creature ever would or ever could. She understood how it felt to be centuries old and yet not be able to walk the streets they hunt after dark without their prey asking where his mother was. She understood the stabbing pain that question would always cause, bringing memories of happier times and happier lives flooding back in riveting color and clarity. She understood and shared in his life, separate but together, and now it would seem she would understand and share in his death.  
As the light of the portal became so bright it was blinding he knew, the creature had finally found its way through. Their death was at hand. His eye unused to such brightness were forced to close, but even in blindness he heard the breaking of glass and the pounding of booted feet. 

“Stop!” Anita's strong voice cried, echoing off the walls.

The calvary had arrived, too little too late. The demon was already here.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N – So next chapter, FAITH!. I'm so excited and I just can't hide it .... wait what? Sorry I just broke into internet song there, don't know where that came from. Anyway, now I really do need to decide on what Faith to bring across, but they're all so good. Don't worry I work best under pressure. I think. We we'll see. Until then drop me a line and let me know what you think so far.


	7. Help a Sister Out

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Faith!!!

[](http://s1063.photobucket.com/user/kasey19391/media/Chapter%20art/the%20summoning/Chapter%206.jpg.html)

  
  


Anita tried to steady her breathing, but her heart was beating far too fast. They were too late, the demon was being pulled through just as they entered the warehouse, there was nothing they could do to stop it. 

Glancing around her she saw the two “baby” vampires off against the far wall, being held in place by magic, why were they still alive? The still corpses of the other sacrifices littered at their feet, their hands held tight together as they sought comfort in the face of certain death. In the center of the cavernous room was the person responsible for this whole mess, standing just outside of a large circle of blood, her hands raised high as light shined into every shadow. Who knew that bringing a demon into this world would be so beautiful.

Looking behind her, she met the eyes of her lover, trying to communicate something though even she wasn’t sure what. Goodbye? Nice knowing ya? There were no words left to speak, not now. As the fog of her mind began to clear two things happened. Edward shot the woman in the leg, dropping her like a sack of potatoes and a body fell through the bright light and thudded to the ground within the blood circle in the center of the room.

This whole mess was beyond confusing! The caster they had all come to fear over the past few days looked to be nothing more than an embittered soccer mom, granted one that hadn’t been keeping up with their appearance, but still. Her hair was snarled and matted with drying blood, some of it looking days old like she hadn’t stopped to shower since this whole insane plan kicked off. Her once cheerful looking clothes were now stained with all manner of biological crap, and hung off her thin frame like she’d lost weight rapidly and recently. Eating didn’t look like a high priority for her either. 

The “demon” that was meant to kill them all simply looked like a young woman, an unconscious young woman. Her dark hair was draped over her face making it impossible to make out her features, but from what she could see the girl had to be on the better side of thirty. Her toned form was bare of any coverings leaving every curve and scar on full display. While she may look young it was obvious she was a fighter, but was she really going to kill them all? Was she even a demon? 

For a moment a previously unknown well of hope and optimism sprang to life in her chest, maybe the woman botched the spell and didn’t summon a demon like she wanted. Maybe she just grabbed some random girl from god knows where and dropped her here in the middle of things. And while she’s being all hopeful and naïve maybe all the innocent people who died to make this a reality will just spring back to life safe and sound.

While things might not be happening how she’d imagined they would things were definitely headed in the general direction of fuckville. What the hell were they supposed to do now? No sooner had the thought echoed through her mind than another shot rang out. Turning to the side she saw Edward standing next to her, he fired weapon aimed at the “demon” in question. A demon who was now very much awake. Oh shit!

Faith didn’t know where she was, some sort of desert it looked like, but she’d fallen asleep in her bed back at the slayer house in Cleveland. So how the fuck had she landed here? Sensing movement she turned her head, tensed to fight whatever came her way, only to freeze in equal parts horror and understanding. There across the fire was the first slayer, looking just like B always described her. So a dream then, but why come to her instead of B? She was so confused.

_“Things have changed for you dark one. You are no longer one of many. You are now all there is.”_

The fuck did that mean? Did something happen to B? The girls?

“What are you talking about?” She had never been the lone slayer before, and even the thought of it in her dreams filled her with terror. She remembered all the horror stories told by the scoobies, the ones written in the watcher diaries. This whole Slaying thing was no joke, and back up was just good sense.

_“Power made your army, now power has torn it from you. You stand alone. Always alone.”_

Okay this bitch was really just a walking headache. She didn’t need riddles she needed answers.

“So in English what does that mean?” Maybe if she asked enough questions this chick would drop the mystic act and just tell her outright what she needed to know.

_“You stand alone. Shoulder to shoulder with your sisters. Listen to their council and you shall stand tall. Ignore them and join their ranks.”_

What the fuck! Was she dead? Was she going to die? Whoa, so that’s how the whole prophecy thing felt, like a punch to the gut. Shrugging her shoulders she decided to just roll with it. Things would shake out however they were going to, fighting it would only make things worse. If she learned anything from B, it was that. 

“So what do I do now?” 

_“Listen.”_

The sound of a shot rang out, forcing her eyes open. Looking frantically around she found herself in a warehouse of some kind, surrounded by people she didn’t know one of whom had been shot in the leg. Well alright then, time to get this show on the road.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N – I know this chapter is kinda short, but it was mainly to just sort of get me back into the flow of the story. More to come eventually, hopefully soon, but I’ve learned that deadlines mean nothing to me. Also if it wasn’t clear from the whole Cleveland thing, we’re going with post Chosen Faith.


End file.
